Women in Nepal

 

 

Nepal is known as the landlord country where the main occupation was agriculture during the formation of society but it has changed as people are into various occupation in the present time. Nepal is recognized due to Mt Everest, Gautam Buddha, Triangular shaped Flag and so on and Nepal is now becoming one of the most to visit tourist destination in terms of nature, glory, mountains, heritage sites, temples, etc. Women were always taken for granted in every aspect of life because Nepal has been a patriarchal society where women were used to be taken lightly compared to men and Men were considered to be the leader of the family.  Women are taken as physically and emotionally weaker but women had to be the one take care of household work, taking care of elders, children and husband and many more. It’s a fact that women’s physical strength is not like of men but when it comes to emotions, tolerance, endurance women are stronger than men but before men were always the decision maker in the family. Social norms, values, rules were in favor of men and sons were given more priority but daughters were discriminated from birth and were not given equal rights in any aspect. For daughters there were no freedom in education, going out, dress up, express their thought. Daughters were not sent to school for education and her education doesn't make any changes in their life as they were taken as others property because they would be sent to her in- laws house. Daughters were raised by teaching to cook, household works and manners. 

Men were considered to be the leader of the family and superior to female. The status of women in Nepal was so crucial and women had to struggle a lot. Child marriage was one of the hardships of a women, they had to get married in very young age with older men. Other horrible custom of that period was Sati system in which wives had to give away her own lives by burning themselves in the funeral pyre of their husband. Most of the women of that time had lost their life by the custom made by a society. Sati system existed for so long time. Finally, Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher, abolish sati system on his 58th birthday, 8th July, 1920. Dowry system was also the ritual which has killed many girls and pressured girl’s families that eventually made people to be scared by the birth of daughters. Dowry system has not completely eliminated from the society as we can still hear news of physical violence, murdered of girls by husband or his family members and we can only hope such system to be stopped for which women needs to be educated and be financially stable too and on the other hand people must remove their greed to expect dowry as gift.

 

Importance of education for women

1. It can help to balance in literacy rate.
2. Raise awareness of child marriage, girls trafficking, etc.
3. It helps a family in financial situation if she is educated and is able to do well paid work.
4. When a woman is educated she can represent even in the political sector as well.
5. Educating woman directly or indirectly helps in the family.  

 

Nepal has divided castes into four main category i.e Brahmin, chhetriya, Vaishya, Sudra. Nepal now have 125 castes in total. In Brahmin community mensuration was one of the conditions where a girl was kept in cold and uncomfortable place on her first mensuration where animals were kept time and they are not allowed to roam outside or see any men members of the house. In Newari caste, a virgin is made kumari "A living goddess " and they are kept in the Kumari Ghar, a palace in the center of the city for many years. Some religions are still practicing social norms and ritual which are only for women.  Women are treated in different way according to caste system.

Since 1990, Constitution guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens without discrimination which has also played an important role in promoting gender equality. But the written constitution hasn't totally used practically till now. Even in present days most of the government workers are men. In the year, 2015 Bidya Devi Bhandari became the first female president of Nepal and she was the first women to hold the government office. Women has faced various hardships and struggle to get the rights and still fighting for equal opportunities. One of the positive changes that can be seen in present era is education for daughters along with their sons. Nowadays most of the families sent their daughters to attend school and some get to study until they want to study.

 

In conclusion, life of a women in Nepal has been very difficult since a long time till now. They are fighting for equal rights in political sector, job opportunities, equal participation in economic sector and so on. As the female population is more in compare to male we can find more female students in education sector too which as a result indicate that situation of women has somehow made a difference now but government must provide job opportunities for all.. One educated woman can make a huge change in the family because she will be able to educate her children on her own if she is intellectually better and she doesn’t have to hesitate while helping her children in their homework and so on. Hope in the near future women are treated as one of the important sources in decision making.